On this page we remember our animals who have crossed the rainbow bridge.

When you click on the picture of a cat, you will go to our former Rags To Riches cattery website in a new tab of your browser.
The dogs have their own page inside this website.

Rainbow Glory Keshara of Meridian

13-02-2021 ~ 09-09-2022

I still have trouble writing about the sudden passing of our youngest darling. You never count on the youngest one going first. Was it poison or something else, we don't know. Kesha was always walking with her nose on the ground, nibbling at invisible things in the grass. I had thought about teaching her to wear a muzzle to prevent her doing that, but now it's too late for that. I will always feel guilty about that, a terrible feeling that overshadows all else for now. Hopefully that feeling will subside over time so I will be able to think of Kesha only with love, of all the joy and sweet cuddles she gave us during her far too short life. Of the great steps she made at KynoSpirit and of how she dared more every time. Her littersister Leeta has mourned her very much as well, because they did everything together. Fortunately a dog can process such a tremendous loss much easier or at least earlier than a human.....

Jadzia Dax van 't Wieltje

23-03-2008 ~ 10-04-2022

Jadzia was the half sister of Sisko. We were só in love with their mother, that we loved to have another kitten from her. Jadzia had a special temperament, very cuddly, but also quite active for a Ragdoll. Every cupboard or drawer you opened, Jadzia would pop inside so inquisitive to see what was in it. In 2011 she moved to our friend Petra, because she lost Atoa far too soon. Unfortunately Petra was allergic to Jadzia's coattype, so then Jadzia went to live with Petra's son Jeffrey. She lived with him till he split up with his girlfriend and then Jadzia moved back to us in November 2015. At first she was frequently butting heads with Ishara, who had never experienced new cats moving in as she was the youngest who stayed with us. After a while they got to tolerating each other, and there were no skirmishes anymore, but they never became close friends. Jadzia lived with us for 7 years until we suddenly found her laying on the floor in a weird way, with all the dogs around her. Unfortunately, veterinary care failed so she went to her forever sleep. Maybe this kind of sudden ending is better for the animal, as they don't have long to suffer, but for the people that love them it's a great shock. We miss our unique little girl so very much.

European Grand International Champion Rags to Riches Shakaar Edon

14-05-2004 ~ 12-01-2020

Shakaar was a kitten from our second litter of Rags To Riches Ragdolls. He became the oldest of all Ragdolls we have known, but still he died completely unexpected within a week after the love of his life Seven on 12 Januari 2020. He wasn't at all ill, but we think he just didn't want to live without his "wife" Seven, because he stopped eating and drinking after she was put to sleep in his presence. Shakaar was a humongous cuddler, he adored people and especially their bags and shoes. His greatest hobby was to wiggle his big body into the smallest boxes, and to this day we call him whenever we have received a package, Shakaar, box ! Shakaar was not my ideal type of Ragdoll and so I wasn't planning on showing him at all, but after several breeder-friends tried to persuade me I took him to a show. To my astonishment he made it to European Grand International Champion, but I only bred one litter from him as his type was not the direction I wanted my breeding program to go in. Of this litter (with Seven) Gilora remained with us, but because she sadly died at only fifteen months of age, we have no descendants of our beloved first Ragdoll Cleo anymore.

European Grand International Champion Close to You Seven of Nine of Rags to Riches

19-04-2006 ~ 03-01-2020

To the last minute we didn't know if this kitten was to be called "Seven" as we were at about the same time expecting to receive a kitten from the States (Ziyal), and of course we wanted our Seventh cat to carry the name Seven. Seven was the love of our lives, the sweetest mother to human and animal alike, always caring and nurturing. Seven was in the whelping box and washed the young puppies of our Shelties and once they were walking they could pull on her ears and tail, she always played with them. For her own kittens she was the greatest mother imaginable and she even nursed her 2-year-old daughter together with her young kittens, a crazy sight to see, such a big cat between the small kittens. Seven and Shakaar were always superclose, they were always together on our breakfast table, and slept intertwined. Seven was always in our lap, together with our dogs, she wiggled her way in until she was comfortable. We miss her so terribly, I am still now misty-eyed when typing this.

Ailey - Amazonas de Caumerhof

11-07-2007 ~ 10-04-2018

Occasionally I checked out the site of Sheltie Rescue and one day I saw there Ailey, who had to be rehomed together with her sister at nine years of age. We immediately fell in love with Ailey, but we couldn't take in two elderly ladies at once at the time. After a while it turned out Ailey's sister had been rehomed seperately, and so at once we contacted Sheltie Rescue, to let them know that we would very much love to have Ailey. The Sheltie Rescue lady came to bring Ailey to us on 13 September 2016. Ailey weighed twice what she should be to fit her size and therefore her front legs were a bit handicapped and so she had trouble walking. For the first few months she lived with us, we always took her stroller with us, because she couldn't walk very far. She soon lost all the excess weight and after that even played a little sometimes with the other girls. She was endearingly sweet, but also had a very strong will. She always sniffed around very leasurely and wouldn't be persuaded to make haste with it. After she was gone, I still waited for her on our walks, out of habit. On a very sad day, only one and a half years after she came to us and a day after we went to the beach which she enjoyed very much, Ailey had a terrible epileptic attack from which she could not recover. I spent a whole day sitting next to her at the vet's, but she couldn't be saved. We miss her sweet sassy face so very much.

International Champion Rags To Riches Kasidy Yates

14-05-2004 ~ 02-05-2015

Kasidy, together with her brother Shakaar, stayed with us from the second and last litter of our Cleo. She was a finer type of cat and therefore only had one litter, of which a kitten still lives with our cousins until today January 2022. Kasidy was Alyssa's best friend and after her death we noticed that Kasidy needed much more attention than before. She wasn't a big fan of people she didn't know and so we didn't show her after her International Championship. Kasidy was a sweet, but somewhat skittish cat who always looked at the world with wide eyes. She died just under 10 years old.

European Grand International Champion Benjamin Sisko van 't Wieltje

19-09-2004 ~ 12-04-2015

Sisko was our present. The originally planned owners had canceled him and we were overjoyed to be able to buy this beautiful dream male. When he was young, Sisko was a real rascal, in his puberty we even considered rehoming him. Luckily we didn't, but what a great character this guy had. He had a wonderful sense of humor, he liked to tease the other animals at times. To us, he was the greatest cuddler and our very best companion. His end was terrible and I still feel a huge desperate anger towards the specialist clinic who operated on him for a tumor in his throat behind his vocal cords. I had to bring Sisko in the morning and they would call when he was ready, but because it was so far away and I wasn't allowed to stay in the waiting room, I camped all day in my car in front of the clinic (they knew this). It wasn't until 5 o'clock that someone came out to discuss what to do. So he had spent his last hours in a cubicle in the clinic while I still could have kept him with me, I can still see his trusting sweet face when I brought him in. They did tell me that this operation had only been performed on a cat three times worldwide, but what they told me afterwards, that all three of these cats had not survived. What have I done to Sisko, if I had known I would not have had him operated on, but perhaps kept him with us a little longer and then let him go to sleep peacefully on my lap at home. I still can't write this without tears in my eyes, even though it's so long ago.

Rags to Riches Aquiel Uhnari

10-02-2010 ~ 20-08-2014

Aquiel was born with us and was really a copy of her father, our Darwin. She was very close with her mother Seven and (because of that ?) a little less with us. When she came, we started to focus less on cat(shows) and so she was not shown, despite the fact that she was a really gorgeous type of Ragdoll. When she and her younger sister Ishara started marking all over the house and we even had to cover the sofa with plastic, it marked the end of our 15 years of Ragdoll breeding. They were both neutered and Ishara was the last Ragdoll born with us. Aquiel did not become old, only 4.5 years and probably died of FIP. Because we stopped breeding anyway, we didn't have an autopsy performed.

Tuvok (we don't know if he had a pedigree)

14-04-2001 ~ 22-01-2014

After being dog-free for 4 years, we were given the opportunity to be more flexible in our working hours so that we could adopt an adult dog, who would be alone for a maximum of 6 hours a day. Before taking Myrna (Tervueren Herder) in 1990, I hesitated for several years between Shelties and Tervuerens. Now that we wanted a smaller dog, I regularly checked the site of the Sheltie Rescue Foundation. When I saw Tuvok, I fell in love instantly. My husband Han would have preferred a younger dog, because Tuvok was already ten years old, but quickly agreed. Tuvok was our present. He was way overweight when he came to us and was clearly not used to going everywhere, but he adapted quickly and became noticeably happier, even people on the street noticed. He had a bit of trouble with men at first, but Han gave him a tripe stick every night before going to sleep and the ice was soon broken. We continue to honor the tradition of getting a tripestick from Dad in the evening to this day. Tuvok was a great "uncle" to Rishon when she came to us as a puppy and he really enjoyed her first litter. He guarded the whelping box and helped raise the puppies. Tuvok may not have been a beautiful Sheltie, but he was a beautiful dog to look at with his gorgeous deep chestnut coat. I still hope to breed a dog with that color one day. Tuvok was our shadow and best friend and we miss him terribly. Unfortunately, he was only allowed to be with us for 3 years. He passed away peacefully at our house and was buried with all our other animals in the Amsterdam Forrest.

European Grand International Champion Close to You Princess Alyssa of Rags to Riches

01-02-2003 ~ 31-05-2012

On May 31, 2012, Alyssa passed away, exactly 2 weeks after she suddenly didn't say good morning to us. Actually, that was the only symptom, but we were immediately alarmed and spent half the day at the emergency clinic (it was Ascension Day). In those two weeks she got sicker and sicker and all the medicines didn't make her better. That is why we had to decide to put the Queen of our house, our sweet chatterbox, our best friend, to sleep. We miss her terribly and even the neighbors miss her. They always said that Alyssa was sitting behind the upstairs bedroom window chatting and babbling to birds, so they miss that familiar image. Her best friend Kasidy also misses her very much, she needs much more attention than before. Alyssa has produced 4 beautiful litters, she was a perfect mother. Of these, Aquiel and Ishara continued to live with us.

Rags to Riches Gilora Rejal

27-04-2008 ~ 10-08-2009

Gilora passed away on August 10, 2009, two months after her grandmother Cleo. She was only 15 months old. This was such an intensely painful loss for us that we wanted to give up our cat breeding hobby. Gilora was our best friend after Cleo's death, no one fetched pellets so enthusiastically and was our comrade like her. Thanks to the support of a number of cat breeder friends, we have reversed this decision, but are still very sad that we no longer have Cleo's offspring.

Cleo - Silk 'n Suede Missy

05-03-1997 ~ 05-05-2009

On May 5, 2009 our first Ragdoll, our dearest darling Cleo passed away. Already 5 years ago, after her last litter, she was given up because she had acute renal failure. Thanks to vet Dijkshoorn in Zeist, she recovered at the time and we were able to have her with us for another 5 wonderful years. We miss her terribly. She was the only one of our cats that always slept in a curl on your lap, "helped" brushing teeth and shaving on the sink, enjoyed his jazz music on Han's lap and was always near us. For years we didn't go on vacation because we didn't want to leave Cleo alone. Last year we bought her a camper van so that she could go on vacation with us, but she was only able to enjoy it for 1 summer. The photo was taken during that wonderful holiday on the Veluwe. Cleo turned 12 years and 2 months old. We buried her with the dogs in the Amsterdamse Bos. Cleo has produced 2 litters of which Kasidy and Shakaar have stayed with us.

Toby (his pedigree has been lost)

? ~ 25-09-2007

In March 2006 we had taken in my aunt's twelve-year-old tricolor Butterfly Dog Toby because she could no longer take care of it herself and in the same week as Keshet my aunt passed away. To us it felt like she now had our dog and we had hers. Toby got along very well with all cats, most of which were heavier than him. It was a very sweet and calm dog, who accepted the sudden turn in his life very cheerfully.
On September 25, 2007 we had to put Toby to sleep very suddenly after a terrible epileptic attack that he couldn't get out of. A few days before we had taken a long walk on the moor. He is buried with our other dogs in a nice spot.

Keshet - Arany Mezo Arc-en-Ciel

26-04-1991 ~ 24-10-2006

I got Keshet the Butterfly dog at the airport, when I left for America, which I then thought was for good. She was 7 weeks old at the time and could fit on your palm. In no time that little rascal was waving the scepter in the household of 12 Belgian Shepherds where I lived. She has always been smart. Together with Myrna she hunted rabbits in the Amsterdam Forrest, people often thought that there were two rabbits running after each other as her white bushy tail tore through the tall grass. She was extremely successful at dog shows, partly due to her enormous presence. She has had one litter of three completely different puppies so unfortunately she could not inherit her perfect appearance. Keshet was everyone's friend and especially loved children, I had to stop her from jumping into every stroller she saw. On October 24, 2006 she passed away at the blessed age of 15.5 years old.

Myrna - Yours Forever Famke (imp. Denmark)

16-03-1990 ~ 12-12-2004

For years I visited dog shows at home and abroad in search of the perfect Tervueren Shepherd. After a few more years on a waiting list, my favorite bitch in Denmark got a litter from which I could choose the litter choice. I went to pick up Myrna when she was 9 weeks old and the whole train journey from Denmark she kept clean as small as she was. Unfortunately, Myrna did not become the perfect show dog I was looking for, but the greatest companion I could wish for. She excelled on the training field and had a lot of fun in Agility and Obedience, making it to G&G III. Myrna had two nice litters, but to my great sadness I had to stop breeding dogs because I was going to work in an office. When Han came into my life, Myrna has already fully accepted him in our lives after a short time while she was really my comrade, not everyone's friend like Keshet. It was wonderful to see that she entrusted me with confidence to Han. Myrna crossed the Rainbow Bridge at the age of almost 14 years old on December 12, 2004, we miss her very much, our best friend. She has produced 2 beautiful litters.

The photos below are of Myrna and Keshet together. Since these photos are scanned, the quality is not great.